February-March 2024 Test Drive Meme

[folkie]

February-March 2024 TDM

Introduction

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This Test Drive meme is open to all.
Welcome to Folkmore's monthly Test Drive Meme! Please feel free to test drive any and all characters regardless of your intent to apply or whether you have an invite or not.

All TDMs are game canon and work like "mini-events". For new players and characters, you can choose to have your TDM thread be your introduction thread upon acceptance or start fresh. Current players are also allowed to have in-game characters post to the TDM so long as they mark their top levels ‘Current Character.’

TDM threads can be used for spoon spending at any time by characters accepted into the game.

Playing and interacting with the TDMs will allow characters to immediately obtain canon items from homes especially weapons or other things they may have had on their person when they were pulled from their worlds! There will always be a prompt that provides some sort of "reward" to characters who complete certain tasks.

Current players are always encouraged to tag new people on the TDM!


🦊 New Star Children meet the Fox still in their worlds, and she brings them into the new realm of Folkmore. As you follow her, your body begins to change and new characteristics emerge. These may stay for a while, or perhaps they will hide away after. And during all of this, the Fox explains to you where you will be going: to Folkmore.

and then... you fall like a shooting star, falling to the land in a burst of starlight.


🦊 Experienced Star Children are already familiar with this time of the month. There are shooting stars all across the sky, and some fall to the land, which means the Fox has brought new arrivals. These newly arrived Star Children will face some tests, but Thirteen wants the more seasoned residents to participate as well.

Perhaps you follow the falling stars on your own, or perhaps the Fox simply teleports you there, but it appears you too will be part of this.

[ Soon You'll Get Better ★ Netfox & Chill]

Soon You'll Get Better . ★

Content Warnings: Power Nullification, Potential Kidnapping, Potential Animal Spirit Harm

The island of Never Fade can no longer be seen in the sky from elsewhere in Folkmore, enclosed within a large purple tinted cloud. Within that cloud, the island is under water—a dreamy purple underwater that all Star Children can breath in if they breath and function in if they function on electricity, so on and so forth. It causes no more difficulties than reduced visibility and greater effort to walk. It's even possible to swim underneath the island, so long as Star Children make sure to make landfall before they get too exhausted and… well… fall.


Friendnapped

The purple water has streaks of silver shot throughout it. Beware, these silver streaks neutralize powers, canon and role abilities alike, for at least an hour. A neutralized Legend won't be able to sense others in danger. A neutralized Myth won't sense danger coming. A neutralized Familiar won't be able to shapeshift to help others. That may set of a danger alarm but not any spidey-sense. These silver streaks are harbingers of spirits recently returned to Folkmore thanks to donations at the Shattered Spoon Shrine: lonely sharks.

The source of the silver streaks in the water, these silver gray sharks swim up and gently bite people. These bites make people go instantly limp but otherwise don't do any damage. They won't even break the skin. Once limp, the lonely sharks take their prey new best friends down to a cave or grotto off the underside of Never Fade. These caves are full of silver water, saturated by the magic of lonely sharks, and the entrances are covered by a thin silver barrier that prevents Star Children from leaving. That means should a Star Child track down where someone is being kept, should they enter its home, they too will be trapped there.

Being held by the lonely sharks isn't the worst experience. These spirits will try to please their new friends, giving them their favorite foods and perhaps even an item from home. This may even be a weapon or magical item. Mind, the magic of these items will be neutralized in the shark's cave. It is possible to fight a lonely shark, even to kill one, but that will only be a temporary measure. Star Children will remain trapped and have to wait for the lonely shark to revive—with even more golden cracks than before. In the end, the only way to escape are hugs, cuddles, and other measures of friendship. Once all the golden cracks have thinned and disappeared, Star Children can leave.

Spread the Love

By the time mid-March comes around, most of the lonely sharks have been fully healed and no longer kidnap Star Children. Instead they swim the None of the Above tunnels below the island's surface, where they provide guidance to Star Children who ask them how to get somewhere. If Star Children have nowhere particular in mind, the lonely sharks encourage Star Children to make their way toward the Shattered Spoon Shrine.

The lonely sharks still create silver streaks in the water that neutralize powers, but they will accompany Star Children and warn them of some of the dangers. When voices call their names, the sharks will snuggle up against Star Children to provide comfort. They're devoted to helping Star Children reach the shrine. Once there, they will encourage the Star Children to donate Lore to one of the broken spoons there, each spoon representing spirits who have left, spirits who became shells of themselves from lack of lore, or ghosts.

Star Children who donate Lore will find their companion lonely shark presenting them with an item from home. This may even be a weapon or magical item. Mind, the magic will be neutralized until the Star Child has spent at least an hour away from the silvery water lonely sharks create. Lonely sharks will happily spend as much time with Star Children as they're willing but will show the way back to the surface either via LIM (Lavender Institute of the Mind) or the None of the Above tunnels.

• Never Fade is underwater within a cloud.
  
• Silver streaks in the water neutralize powers, both canon and Role based.
  
• Lonely sharks kidnap Star Children and take them to caves on the underside of Never Fade.
  
• Star Children who find those caves are trapped too.
  
• Escape by hugs, cuddles, and being friends.
  
• By the second month, most lonely sharks are healed and found in the tunnels.
  
• Lonely sharks guide Star Children to the Shattered Spoon Shrine to donate Lore to help others.
  
• Either when captive or once donating Lore, lonely sharks will give Star Children an item from home.

Netfox & Chill . ★

Content Warnings: Forced Relocation, Potential Secret Revelation, Potential Coerced Physical Intimacy

With the wide range of Star Children from many different worlds, sharing similarities, it's no surprise when moments of deja vu happen. That sense of the familiar with the new, the sense of something that happened before without quite being able to place it… or perhaps it being impossible. Regardless, when that connective moment happens, the Star Children involved are transported to a windmill home from the Cloud Colonies. They land together on a couch before a large television with all the makings of a movie night. There could be wine and cheese. There could be soda and popcorn. There could be tea or other hot beverages. There's a cozy blanket (only one). The movie has already been selected, and it starts playing.

Headliner

The movie is roughly based off one of the Star Children's lives, specifically for the Star Child that experience deja vu and triggered this experience. Regardless of the moment of deja vu, the plot of the movie is based off of some real or potential relationship—romantic or queer platonic—in their life. That Star Child can recognize some similarities immediately. If they had any doubts, they get a text message on their relic as the movie starts:

You need to get closer with your companion(s). You can either talk about what happened (or didn't) or not talk wink wink about it with them. The choice is yours (and theirs)! Have fun!

It's possible to ignore the message, at least for a while. The longer the movie plays, the more apparent it becomes that it's based off that Star Child. The starring character's clothes will change to resemble theirs. The cadence of their voice will shift to imitate theirs. Their facial features will shift. These changes will become more and more heavy handed as the movie goes on until even the most clueless companion will have real trouble not picking up on it. It may get harder and harder to distract them from talking about it! There's no pause button, and the only way to mute the movie is to *ahem* distract themselves from it until it becomes an indistinct background murmur.

Remake

If any Star Children thought this experience might have been a Valentine's Day prank, they'll be poorly mistaken come mid-March when it continues with a twist. The movie less closely resembles any one Star Child's life (whew?)… because it blends the lives of all those present together into a new story. One character is based off each Star Child, and it fits the other Star Child into the role of someone who was or could have been emotionally and/or physically intimate with them. If they had any doubts, each Star child gets a text message on their relic as the movie starts:

You need to get closer with your companion(s). You can either talk about what happened (or didn't) or not talk wink wink about it with them. The choice is yours (and theirs)! Have fun!

Not only does each Star Child have to decide what approach they want to take, but the other Star Child may pick up on what they're putting down! One Star Child may want to talk it out, but the other one desperately doesn't. Oh noes, how shall it be resolved? Well, the longer it takes, the more clearly the film demonstrates one way they could resolve it—a fictionalized ending, happy or sad or bittersweet or anything else, between the characters as they more closely resemble those watching them on the sofa. No one's free until they have a heart to heart or a something to something else. Any physical intimacy can do.

• Experience a moment of deja vu and get transported to a cozy living room in a Cloud Colony windmill.
  
• For the first month, the 'host' Star Child gets a text letting them know to get intimate—emotionally or physically.
  
• For the second month, all Star Children get that text.
  
• For the first month, the movie is based on the 'host' Star Child's experiences, what did or could have happened. As the movie progresses, it becomes more and more obvious that's the case.
  
• For the second month, the movie is a story blending Star Children's experiences together. That too will become more obvious over time.
  
• Some form of intimacy is the only way out!

Comments

[mywayistheway]

[She has to admit, it's good to feel the weight of one of her blasters in her hand again. It's been so long. Slipping it into one of her side holsters, she then looks to the eager shark. Reaching out to it to give it more pets. It's all too happy to snuggle up to her again and get cuddles, the lady Mandalorian rubbing its side affectionately.

All the while, she's watching Boba out of the corner of her eye. A small smile coming to her lips as he receives something that's clearly important to him. That being enough to finally give his shark a chance. Bo-Katan has no idea what is so special about that little book, but she won't pry.]

I haven't been here long enough to know for myself, but in the world I was in before this one, strange things did tend to happen every now and then. I expect it will be the same here.

[There's a pause from her as she gives the shark more attention, the cracks in its skin slowly starting to disappear.]

My name is Bo-Katan.

[myownprice]

[ "Strange things" is putting it mildly. Honestly, the floating island surrounded by a shroud of purple water had been unusual enough before factoring in the broken, kidnapping sea creatures. And Boba hasn't even been here for a full day yet.

Still, for all its strangeness, it seems that their current situation isn't as dire as Boba had initially feared, at least for now. Tentatively, he lowers himself to sit on the cave floor, though he moves as if he expects to need to spring up again at any moment. Ever-helpful, his shark swims over to his untouched slice of uj cake and brings it over to him, dropping it in his lap. Boba is hungry—the days in which he's managed to eat three square meals over the past few weeks have been few and far between—but he's still reluctant to eat at this very moment. He'll wait until it feels a bit safer to do so.

He stows the uj cake in one of his pockets for now. Wryly, he wonders if the sharks simply happened to have a surplus of the stuff. Maybe that's why they seem to have gone exclusively after Mandalorians? ]

Are there many more of us in this world? [ he asks the woman. ] Mandalorians, I mean.

[mywayistheway]

[This is nothing compared to the time she was taken into the future and kept finding herself in random places just by walking through a door.

Continuing to watch Boba, Bo-Katan keeps petting her shark, who is all too happy to let her do so. A part of her wanted to deny that Boba was actually a real Mandalorian, but she stomps that thought out. This could be an opportunity to get to know Fett. Find out what he’s really all about. And well… she also can’t bring herself to be indignant at a boy.]

Only one other. You can’t miss him. Walks around in unpainted beskar.

[myownprice]

Oh.

[ His father's armor was unpainted as well, save for the blue trim surrounding the visor of the helmet that Boba wears now. He remembers, with the same dull pang it always brings, the story about how it came to be that way. He wonders if the Mandalorian with the unpainted armor here has a similar one.

Boba's shark curls itself in his lap and Boba, having watched the way Bo-katan had lavished attention on her own shark, sets to work rubbing a hand down the creature's spine, its skin sandpapery against his palm. His fingertips graze over the gashes he'd scratched in the creature's side earlier. ]

Sorry, [ he mutters to the shark. ] I thought you were going to eat me.

[ A memory flashes through his mind, unbidden: a little body dropped into the water, a flash of teeth—and then nothing. He shakes his head. ]

This whole place feels like a weird dream, [ he admits. ] I keep feeling like I'm going to wake up at any second.

[ Maybe he'd hit his head harder than he realized during his little jetpack mishap in the cruiser. If that's the case, it'd probably be kinder if he just kept dreaming. He'd hate to imagine what his fate might be like at the mercy of Libkath. Or Durge. Or Jabba.

He really does hope this is real. For his own sake. ]

[mywayistheway]

Maybe it is.

[The whole out of body experience before coming here suggested… something. If any of it was even real. Maybe she would eventually wake up in the Pokémon world or even back home. But it’s been a very very long dream if so.]

If it is, or isn’t, this is our reality for now. Like it or not.

[And sometimes she really didn’t like it.

Due to the ample amounts of cuddling and pets, her shark finally pulled away from her and did a flip. As if showing off its now fully healed skin. A final nuzzle in thanks and then the shark darted off. The silver stuff surrounding Bo-Katan dissipating.]